Category: Newsroom

LAFPP is aware of the conservatorship placed over United Firefighters of Los Angeles City (UFLAC) by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). At this time, we do not have any reason to believe this will affect your retiree health or dental benefits. The Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners has requested a meeting between the UFLAC Conservator and LAFPP’s Departmental Audit Manager to discuss their audit findings and confirm there is no impact to UFLAC-administered retiree health and dental plans. Please continue to monitor the LAFPP website for updates. 

BACKGROUND

On April 14, 2025, the Los Angeles City Controller, Kenneth Mejia, met with LAFPP staff to discuss the City’s general fund contribution.  The discussion focused on a “true-up” of the City’s annual contribution.  As part of the yearly actuarial valuation process, the LAFPP Board commissions a report from its independent consulting actuary, which determines the annual contribution rates (on a percentage of sworn payroll basis) required to fund the pension and retiree health benefits promised by the City to LAFPP members.

A true-up is a term used by accountants and actuaries to describe an adjustment made to account for the difference between the estimated contribution paid to LAFPP, which is based on the City’s budgeted sworn payroll, and the required contribution based on actual sworn payroll. A true-up was one of several recommendations in a March 7, 2014 audit issued by the City Controller. In 2018, in response to this audit recommendation, LAFPP staff calculated a sample true-up based on actual sworn payroll in fiscal year (FY) 2017-18, which determined that the City’s contribution was deficient by approximately $476,000, while the Harbor and Airports would have received a credit of $465,000 and $48,000, respectively, due to contributing amounts in excess of what their actual payroll would have required. These results were discussed with the Office of the City Administrative Officer (CAO) at the time, and the CAO did not pursue it any further.

After a series of meetings to discuss the details and requirements of the true-up calculation, the Controller’s Office provided LAFPP with their true-up analysis on May 7, 2025. Their analysis showed a savings of $49 million if the temporarily non-pensionable salary increases were not included in “pensionable” salary (which refers to the salary amount that is used to calculate a member’s pension benefit), or $3.1 million if all pensionable salaries were included. LAFPP staff discussed these two approaches with our independent consulting actuary and was advised that the temporarily non-pensionable salaries should be included in any true-up calculation, as they will be included in members’ pension benefits and were included when the City made its contribution at the beginning of the fiscal year.

The pensionable salary issue and its impact on future City contributions to LAFPP was discussed at a prior Board meeting on April 18, 2024. At this meeting, the Board’s actuarial consultant presented a report on the instability in the Plan’s funding and the City’s contribution due to the City granting salary increases to sworn employees that start off as non-pensionable and later convert to pensionable salary increases. As discussed in the Board report, staff from the CAO’s office suggested calculating the City’s annual contribution based on sworn payroll that included these temporarily non-pensionable salary amounts. As a result, the actuary did not recommend a change in LAFPP’s valuation procedure to mitigate the instability in the City’s contributions. The Harbor and Airports departments followed this same approach to include the temporarily non-pensionable salaries in determining their contributions to LAFPP.

BOARD CONSIDERATION OF TRUE-UP

On May 15, 2025, the LAFPP Board considered requests from the Mayor and the City Controller regarding a true-up mechanism on annual City contribution amounts needed to fund the pension and retiree health benefits promised to LAFPP members. Controller Kenneth Mejia made a public comment and requested the Board approve and perform a true-up analysis for the current fiscal year (FY 2024-25) based on specific pensionable payroll only (i.e., excluding the temporarily non-pensionable salaries), and if the City overpaid, approve a credit back to the City.  As discussed during the Board meeting, these “non-pensionable” salary increases are indeed pensionable, since any of these members who retire will have those salary increases included as part of their pensionable final average salary. Following the advice of the Board’s actuarial consultant, the Board agreed that any true-up mechanism should include the above salary increases as pensionable.

Although the Board did not move forward with a true-up for FY 2024-25, they directed staff to return on July 3, 2025, for further discussion on implementing a true-up mechanism beginning with FY 2025-26, which would impact the City’s FY 2026-27 contribution to LAFPP.

While evaluating the request to immediately implement the contribution true-up for the 2024–25 fiscal year, staff presented the Board with the following considerations:

• Staff needs additional time to review the methodology and validate the true-up calculation that the Controller’s Office provided staff on May 7, 2025.
• Staff has identified concerns about the ability to obtain the necessary payroll data from Workday, the City’s new payroll system, to perform an accurate, reliable contribution true-up.
• The City has acknowledged issues concerning the accuracy of Los Angeles Fire Department and Los Angeles Police Department payroll data (see Council File 25-0073-S1 and Council File 25-0116). There are scenarios where members do not make an employee pension contribution but earn service credit (IOD or military leave), or do not earn service credit (suspensions or unpaid leaves of absence). Additionally, retroactive adjustments in pay would have to be accounted for in any true-up that is calculated. Correct payroll data is critical to ensure any true-up is accurate.
• If the true-up is based on incorrect salary data, the Board risks underfunding the plan if credits are improperly provided against the City’s annual required contribution.
• The CAO indicated to staff that any true-up for FY 2024-25 would need to be completed prior to the City Council’s adoption of the budget, which must occur by June 1, 2025.
• Once a true-up process is adopted by the LAFPP Board, it must be calculated by LAFPP and applied each year going forward, regardless of whether the true-up results in a contribution credit (amount credited against the following year’s annual required contribution amount) or shortfall (additional amount owed on top of the following year’s annual required contribution).

Due to scheduled building maintenance, the LAFPP office will be closed to members and the public from Monday, April 21^st through Friday, April 25^th. LAFPP staff will be available by phone and video conference during this time. We anticipate that the building will reopen for regular business on Monday, April 28^th. With our office closed, please consider using MyLAFPP to submit any documents securely to LAFPP. Thank you for your understanding.

Section Services Directory

LAFPP congratulates Commissioner Kenneth E. Buzzell, the Fire Department Retired Member-elect, on his re-election to the Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners (Board)! Commissioner Buzzell’s current term expires on June 30, 2025 and, pursuant to Los Angeles Administrative Code Section 23.103.2, the Board authorized the City Clerk’s Election Division to conduct an election on March 12, 2025.  Commissioner Buzzell received 88.47% of the votes cast and is re-elected to another five-year term beginning July 1, 2025.  Commissioner Buzzell will be sworn in before the end of his current term to continue fulfilling his fiduciary responsibilities as a Board member.

For a current list of Commissioners, please view the Board Directory. Inquiries regarding the results of the election can be directed to LAFPP’s Administrative Services and Human Resources Section at (213) 279-3080.

LAFPP congratulates Commissioner Brian J. Churchill, the Police Department Employee Member-elect, on his re-election to the Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners (Board)! Commissioner Churchill’s current term expires on June 30, 2025 and, pursuant to Los Angeles Administrative Code Section 23.102.2, the Board authorized the City Clerk’s Election Division to conduct an election on February 26, 2025.  Commissioner Churchill received 88.462% of the votes cast and is re-elected to another five-year term beginning July 1, 2025.  Commissioner Churchill will be sworn in before the end of his current term to continue fulfilling his fiduciary responsibilities as a Board member.

For a current list of Commissioners, please view the Board Directory. Inquiries regarding the results of the election can be directed to LAFPP’s Administrative Services and Human Resources Section at (213) 279-3080.

The next meeting of the Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners is on Thursday, June 5, 2025 at 8:30AM.

Please read the “Important Message to the Public” at the beginning of the Agenda for current meeting attendance options and requirements.

Public Comment Dial-In Information

If you would like to listen to the Board Meeting and provide public comment remotely, please call in to the meeting as follows:

1. Dial-in Phone Number: 669-900-9128 US (San Jose) or 346-248-7799 US (Houston) (Toll charges may apply)
2. Enter the Meeting ID: 898 405 2575 Passcode: 501554 then press “#”
3. State your name, if prompted, then press “#” again
4. Wait to join the meeting. You may hear silence until the meeting begins.

Watch and Listen via Livestream

If you do not wish to make public comment, but would like to watch and listen to the meeting, you may do so from the following link:

YouTube Link: LAFPP Board Meeting

1. The Board meeting livestream is only available during open meeting sessions. The closed session portion of the meeting is closed to members of the public and you will see a black screen until the open session resumes.
2. If the meeting freezes on your PC, press F5 or hit the refresh button on your webpage to reload the livestream.

Request for Services: As a covered entity under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Angeles does not discriminate on the basis of disability and, upon request, will provide reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access to its programs, services and activities. Sign Language Interpreters, Communication Access Real-Time Transcription, Assistive Listening Devices, Telecommunication Relay Services (TRS), Language Translation and Interpretation Services, or other auxiliary aids and/or services may be provided upon request. To ensure availability, you are advised to make your request at least 72 hours prior to the meeting you wish to attend. Due to difficulties in securing sign language interpreters, five or more business days’ notice is strongly recommended. For additional information or to make requests for any of the above accommodations, please contact the Department of Fire and Police Pensions: (213) 279-3000 voice; (213) 628-7713 TDD; and/or email pensions@lafpp.com.

Notice to Department of Fire & Police Pension Industry Professionals: If you are compensated to interact with the Department of Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions, City law may require you to register as a lobbyist and report your activity. Any individual may qualify as a lobbyist, regardless of occupation, education, training, or professional title. A lobbyist may hold a position that includes, but is not limited to: attorney, CEO, consultant, government liaison, business owner, permit applicant, urban planners, expediters, land developers, various real estate specialists and others. More information is available online through the Ethics Commission’s lobbying program and publication pages. For assistance, please contact the Ethics Commission.